An underachieved 17-year-old becomes the object of a playboy's malicious and sadistic bullying. What will happen when unexpected sparks fly and neither are prepared for the challenges that lie ahead? Interracial AM/BW

A/N: Special thanks to my main man TPOC you rock for reviewing this story. Also special thanks goes out to Joker-Darkly, Nene Richards, Ivix, taHAYla, and my girl Jammi for reviewing this story. All of you guys rock. Now here's the next chapter. Enjoy =]

The weekend couldn't have come sooner enough, and Cadence was happy she survived her first week of school without being suspended; which wasn't really saying much. She wasn't a troublemaker, she was just misunderstood, and it pissed her off. She was glad the bruises on her face faded, because now she could walk around the house make up free. She never left the house without any makeup on, but she didn't like painting her entire face with foundation. She'd just dab a little powder here and there to cover the permanent scars that weren't that noticeable.

She rolled over on her back and breathed heavily as she slept soundlessly. The best thing about the weekends was that she could sleep in. She usually woke up during late afternoon, and the best thing about it is that no one cared. Today, the house was all hers. Mark and Brittany went to Seattle for the weekend to celebrate finally setting a date for their wedding after two-in-a-half years, and Kyrie and Sahari were sent to stay with MJ and his family. So it was just her, the cleaning staff, and chefs. She didn't have any plans that weekend until…

She stirred and growled, irritated that someone was calling her at…she checked the time on her phone, two o'clock in the afternoon. A picture of Amanda wearing shades throwing up a peace sign with her tongue sticking out was on the screen, and she ran her finger across the screen to answer it.

"Hello," she said grudgingly with her eyes still closed.

"Cadence? Girl, I know you're not still sleeping. It's almost three."

"Yes, I know."

She heard Amanda sigh on the other end, and she knew she was shaking her head. It may be Saturday, but it's been a hell of a week, and all she wanted to do was relax. She didn't want to mess her moments of peace.

"Guess who tweeted about you today?" she asked teasingly.

Cadence rubbed her eyes and asked dryly, "Who?"

"Fabolous!"

For Amanda the celebrity lifestyle was fascinating, but for her, she didn't give a damn. If only she knew the stress of constantly having some outsider pry their way into your personal business.

She sighed, "So what does he want?"

She did know the guy, which was why him tweeting about her didn't phase her. He was a cool guy.

"Oh," she sounded a bit disappointed, but Cadence couldn't tell if it was because she never told her about it or she was slightly jealous. She said on occasion how much she wanted her life. "Well anyway, apparently he wants to help you jump start your music career. You're starting a music career?"

"Um no," she had no idea where that came from. She barely had an acting career.

"Well apparently your dad seems to be stoked about the offer."

"Wha?" her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. She groaned and sat up, pushing the covers off of her body.

"What's wrong?" Amanda asked, sounding concerned.

She rested her face in the palm of her hand and sighed furiously, "That bastard leaves for a weekend, and he's still meddling in my shit!"

"Woah, what am I missing here? One of the best rappers of all time besides Lil Wayne wants to work with you, and you're upset?"

Cadence rolled her eyes and was tempted to throw the phone out of the window. The only reason she didn't was because if she had of, Mark would be beating her ass from Monday to Sunday.

"First of all, he's not one of the best rappers of all time. I mean, when was the last time he came out with an album? Second, I had to find out through you, who found out on Twitter, that my dad's soliciting a record deal for me. I can do that shit on my own. Third, Tupac is the best rapper of all time, now and forever. And lastly, how in the hell did he know I can sing?"

Amanda didn't say anything for a moment, and Cadence breathed heavily. She was beginning to get stressed out all over again and was sure a seventeen-year-old with high blood pressure was not a good thing.

"Are you for real?" Amanda asked in a skeptical tone that was pissing her off, "Girl shut up. You are overreacting for nothing. Pretty much everyone who knows you, know you can sing. I mean you are Miss Teen USA aren't you?"

She blew a puff of air, "Girl that was when I was fourteen."

"Uh huh, well your god given talent ain't just gonna go away like that. Who knows, your singing career might take off like your acting career might. I mean, you won't be known on Wikipedia as just a teen icon and beauty pageant veteran. You'll be an actress and singer."

She rolled her eyes. That sounded fine and all, but she still didn't appreciate her father pimping her out like that, "Yeah, whatever."

"What's wrong? You're still upset about the incident with Emmet?"

And here we go.

"Well, it was unnecessary for him to start this shit in the first place. I mean, I was fine being an outcast, and now thanks to him, everyone in that damn school knows my name. And what's with the guys looking at me like they wanna fuck me all of a sudden. I just can't take this shit right now!"

It felt good letting her frustrations out, even though Amanda was the last person she'd vent to. Raquel was better at listening to her problems than she was.

"Well to tell you the truth, Emmet wasn't the one who took the picture of your ass…"

"I know that."

"So the person you should be mad at is Charles?"

"Who?"

"Charles. You know that fine ass blonde with the glasses and pretty eyes. He's almost as rich as you I think, and is so fucking hot!"

Of course, Amanda could probably name all of the cute guys in their grade level. She knew who he was but didn't know his name. She saw him hanging out with Emmet, and he didn't look her way until Emmet had done so.

Emmet.

A week ago, he didn't exist. Now, she thought about him constantly. She agreed with her boy crazy friends that he was cute, probably one of the cutest guys at the school. If he wasn't deliberately making her life a living hell, she'd consider dating him, if she wanted to date that is.

"I know who took the picture, but the shit started before then. You saw the way Emmet was looking at me in the hall on the first day of school. That made his friends look at me and then they started saying shit about me. It's all his fault. I was fine being a nobody."

Suddenly, Amanda burst into laughter and that threw her off. What was so damn funny?

"Amanda?"

"Girl, you're a trip. You honestly think Emmet's the reason why all the guys are paying attention to you. Bitch please, look at you. You're total eye candy."

Cadence snorted and didn't respond.

"What's been happening this week ain't new, girl. Guys always looked at you, fucked you with their eyes, and talked about how fine you are. The shit's been happening for the longest. The reason why it's irritating the hell out of you is because you're just now noticing it. And it's funny, because your ass actually thinks you're an outcast. Trick, you are not an outcast. You're a misfit. Everyone and their grandmother in that school know who the fuck you are. You're popular, shit, you're fucking famous!"

Cadence really wanted to tear into her ass, but she bit down on her tongue to prevent a snarky comment from escaping. Amanda may have had a foul mouth, but she was the one with the silver tongue. The way those words spewed from her lips gave her the impression that she might be a little jealous of her. They've been friends for a while, not as long as she and Raquel have been, but still that outburst was unexpected.

"I'm sorry," Amanda said sounding sincere, "it's just frustrating seeing my best friend not live up to her full potential. I mean you're smart, probably as smart as MJ, but making half ass grades. You can literally own that school, yet I and Raq are the only two you hang out with. You can have all the guys, including the teachers, kissing your ass because your dad's a fucking basketball star and your mom's on TV a lot. Hell, you may as well call yourself a model since you've been on the cover of ain't no telling how many magazines."

Cadence felt around on her bed and grabbed a remote control. She pressed the green button and the curtains automatically opened, allowing the sun's rays to shine through the large windows. She pressed another button to turn on the twenty seven inch LCD television that hung on the wall before her. As usual there was nothing on, it kind of defeated the purpose of having over three hundred high definition channels.

She didn't know how to interpret those words. For one, MJ was a genius. He already graduated from college when he was the age she is now and was able to build a multi million dollar empire. Technology was his thing, but what was hers? He could have gone to the NBA because he inherited their father's athletic abilities, and she inherited her beauty from their mother. She wished she could find something she was passionate about like MJ had.

"Whatever, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I just wanna enjoy my weekend in peace."

"Ooh, that's right. You got the whole house to yourself!" Amanda was giddy and Cadence couldn't help but giggle.

It amazed her how she could go from being serious to goofy within a minute.

"Let me guess daddy tweeted it?"

"Yuh huh! He did. He said, in Seattle with my baby at Brittany's way, sent my two little angels to stay with my number one son at MJ two k one, which means baby girl at i.d.g.a.f Cadence holding down the fort for her pops. Team Porter four life"

She rolled her eyes and laid on her stomach, watching a rerun of Kenan and Kel on AOTV.

Well, she thought, at least he's not tweeting about my mama.

"Uh, Amanda?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why do you follow my daddy?"

"Because girl, he's funny as hell. I love his tweets, especially when he and your mom get into twitter fights. And you should read his tweets during Twitter after dark…"

"Okay, okay. I gotcha," she shivered uncomfortably.

There was no way in hell she's getting involved with Twitter late at night. That's when the weirdos came out to play.

"So what do you want to do today? Party?"

"Uhh?"

"Oh never mind girl. Your dad just tweeted, at i.d.g.a.f Cadence better not be throwing no parties and trashing my crib. How about we go to the beach? We hadn't been there in a while."

She sighed and conceded, "Sure."

She didn't really feel like leaving the house, but she knew there was no way Amanda was going to let her stay inside. Plus, it was so beautiful outside; it'd be a shame to let the day go to waste.

"Cool, I'll call Raquel and let her know, and then ya'll can meet me at my house in a couple of hours. Love you, bye!"

The call disconnected and Cadence let the phone drop on the bed beside her. There was nothing on TV, and there wasn't really anything to do since she was alone with the staff. She slid off the bed and stepped down the three steps into her sitting room. Maybe her spirits would go up if she spent some time on the beach. It's been forever since she was able to let loose and have some fun. She really, really wanted to forget the incident with Charles and the picture and erase Emmet completely out of her mind. Since he was her designated study buddy for Calculus, she'll only deal with him during school and that's it. She had enough problems going on.

Meanwhile…

Knock Knock Knock!

"Emmet!" Kanya called his name from behind the closed door.

Emmet sat at his wooden desk that sat beside an open window typing away on his computer, "You can come in mom!"

Twisting the door knob, she opened the door and entered the room. He didn't take his eyes off of the monitor screen; he had an essay due on Monday for one of his AP classes, and he wanted to complete it before the day was over with. She went over to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

Taking his eyes off the screen, he looked up at her with weary eyes. He barely slept at all last night since he stayed up studying, "Yes?"

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, "Your father left you this before he left for work this morning." She gave it to him, "I would've given it to you sooner but when I came up here earlier you were sleeping. I didn't want to disturb you."

He grimaced as he unfolded the paper and read it. Of course, it was a list of chores for him to do.

"Thanks," he said dryly, then turned his attention back to his assignment.

"Are you hungry? I can make you a sandwich or something."

Without taking his eyes off the screen, he waves her off, "Nah, I'm good. I'll just eat something later."

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it and shook her head slightly. Sadness appeared in her dark eyes and she said meekly, "Well…okay. I'll be in the den if you need me," with that she left the room and closed the door behind her.

He continued to type up his assignment, not seeming to be bothered by the way he treated his mother. He didn't mean to give her the cold shoulder, but he was tired of the constant list of chores he had to do on top of homework, studying, and working a part time job at the mall. The only reason he was so tired was because he had been working double shifts plus completing both his chores and his father's chores. He made just enough time for him to get some studying in before he went to bed, and he only hung out with his friends outside of his school once.

Since his father's promotion, more money's been coming in to supplement their living costs, but it's been taking a strain on him. With him being absent so much, he's been giving the responsibility of being the man of the house which meant he had to take care of the things he normally did around the house. He wasn't really upset with his mother, but he wished she'd stand up to him. She hardly ever saw him, and he never saw him at all. The only interaction he had with his father were the list of chores he wanted done.

He considered cutting back on his hours at his job, but he had senior dues to pay along with homecoming, the winter formal, and most importantly the prom. He knew his father wasn't going to pay for it. Ever since he turned sixteen and was old enough to get a job, he literally told him he needed to man up and take care of his own responsibilities without the use of his money. So, he got a job at a high class clothing store and made decent money. He was also saving up to buy a car, so quitting his job really wasn't an option.

He was halfway done with his essay when he got a video call on Skype from Deandre. Sighing out of frustration and tiredness, he clicks the answer button and an image of Deandre in his bedroom appeared before him.

"What's up man?" he smiled from ear to ear.

Emmet blew a puff of air and told him, "Nothing much. Just doing some homework and studying."

"Aw man, you study too much. You should take a break."

He grimaced, "Well this essay is due Monday, and I don't want to get into the habit of missing assignments. I actually care about my grades you know."

He was serious, which was why Deandre's laughter threw him off.

"Well whatever. Come hang with me, Wilson, and the rest of the crew on Pacific beach. I'll pick you and your girls up."

He groaned. He really wasn't in the mood to listen to the twins bickering over him checking Cadence out. He couldn't help it if she had a nice ass and theirs' were flat as paper. What was he to do? Look the other way.

"Ah, I don't know…" he pondered on it for a moment.

It would be nice to get out of the house and spend some time with his friends, but he was too tired, and he really wanted to get his work done.

"Come on, it'll be fun. When was the last time you've been to the beach?"

"Well…"

It had been a minute since he's been to the beach. The feel of the cool sand in between his toes and the fresh breeze against his body was refreshing. He guess it wouldn't hurt to go down there, especially before winter hits.

"Shit, I'm in."

"Ha ha great!" he said it a little too enthusiastically; "I'll be there soon, bye!" he hung up.

He let the phone drop in his lap and he rubbed his face and sighed.

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